Power tool having an intermediate housing

ABSTRACT

A power tool is provided including a motor housing; a transmission housing disposed adjacent the motor housing with a gap therebetween; an electric motor including a rotor and a stator mounted within the motor housing; and an intermediate housing disposed between the electric motor and the transmission mechanism. The intermediate housing includes a back wall extending radially adjacent an axial end of the stator and having a through-hole therein through which the motor spindle extends; side walls extending axially from an outer circumference of the back wall internally of the motor housing; and one or more external walls extending substantially-radially outwardly from axial end of the one or more side walls to fill a gap formed between the transmission housing and the motor housing in the axial direction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/799,865 filed Jul. 15, 2015, entitled “Range of Power Tools,” whichclaims priority to UK Application No. GB 1413008.2, filed on Jul. 23,2014, entitled “A Range of Power Tools.” The contents of theseapplications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a range of power tools, in particular,a range of hammer drills.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A hammer drill comprises a tool holder in which a cutting tool, such asa drill bit, can be supported and driven by the hammer drill. The hammerdrill can often drive the cutting tool in three different ways, eachbeing referred to as a mode of operation. The cutting tool can be drivenin a hammering mode, a rotary mode and a combined hammer and rotarymode. A hammer drill will typically comprise an electric motor and atransmission mechanism by which the rotary output of the electric motorcan either rotationally drive the cutting tool to perform the rotarymode or repetitively strike the cutting tool to perform the hammer modeor rotationally drive and repetitively strike the cutting tool toperform the combined hammer and rotary mode.

EP1157788 discloses a typical hammer drill.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An “in line” hammer drill comprises an electric motor having a rotor,which is rotationally mounted within a stator, which has an axis ofrotation that is parallel to the axis of rotation of an output spindle.Such a hammer drill typically comprises a motor housing in which islocated the electric motor and a transmission housing, in which islocated the transmission mechanism which comprises a rotary drivemechanism and a hammer mechanism, and which is attached to the front ofmotor housing. “In line” drills are typically designed in a range, witheach of the “in line” drills in the range having a different sizeelectric motor to generate different power outputs. This results in eachof the “in line” drill in the range having a different design of motorhousing to accommodate the different sizes of electric motor whichincurs cost and complexity when designing and manufacturing a range of“in line” drills. The present invention seeks to reduce these problems.

Accordingly, there is provided a range of power tools in accordance withclaim 1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 shows a vertical cross sectional view of a first in line drillhaving a first motor size with a motor housing;

FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross sectional view of a second in line drillhaving a second motor size with the same motor housing as the hammerdrill in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a vertical cross sectional view of a second in line drillhaving a third motor size with the same motor housing as the hammerdrill in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4A to 4C show front sideways and rear views of the intermediatehousing of the hammer drill of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5A to 5C show front sideways and rear views of the intermediatehousing of the hammer drill of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6A to 6C show front sideways and rear views of the intermediatehousing of the hammer drill of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Whilst the embodiment of the present invention described below relatesto an “in line” hammer drill, it will be appreciated that the inventionis applicable to ranges of hammer drill having the electric motor inother orientations as well as ranges of other types of power tool, suchas a range of drills or a range of reciprocating saws.

FIGS. 1 to 3 each show a hammer drill, each of which forms part of arange of hammer drills.

Referring to the figures, each of the three drills are in line hammerdrills which comprise an electric motor 2 having a rotor 4 mountedwithin a stator 6. The motor 2 is powered via an electric cable 8 whichconnects to the motor via an electric switch 10. Depression of theswitch causes the rotor 4 to rotate. A fan 44 is mounted on the outputspindle 12 of the motor to draw air over the motor 2.

The transmission mechanism will now be described.

The output spindle 12 of the motor comprises teeth which mesh with agear 14 on an intermediate shaft 16 to rotatingly drive the intermediateshaft 16. A wobble bearing 18 is mounted on the intermediate shaft 16which, when activated, is rotationally driven by the intermediate shaft16 to reciprocatingly drive a piston 20 located within a hollow spindle22. The piston reciprocatingly drives a ram 24 via an air cushion. Theram 24 in turn repetitively strikes a beat piece 26 which strikes theend of a cutting tool when held n a tool holder 28 attached to the endof the hollow spindle 22 at the front of the transmission. Also mountedon the intermediate shaft 16 is a second gear 30 which meshes with athird gear 32 mounted on the hollow spindle 22. When activated, theintermediate shaft 16 rotationally drives the hollow spindle 22 via thesecond and third gears, the third gear 32 driving the hollow spindle 22via a torque clutch 36. Rotation of the hollow spindle 22 results in therotation of the tool holder 28. The wobble bearing 18 and rotary driveare activated via a mode change mechanism 40. The operation of such ahammer drill is well known in art and therefore will not be discussedany further.

The electric motor 2 and switch 10 are located within a motor housing 50which also forms a support handle by which the operator holds the hammerdrill. The transmission mechanism comprising the hammer mechanism androtary drive are located within a transmission housing 52 with the toolholder mounted on the front of the transmission housing 50. Sandwichedbetween the motor housing 50 and the transmission housing 52 is anintermediate housing 54.

The size of the motor 2 in each of three hammer drills in FIGS. 1 to 3is different. This is due to the fact that the stack length of each ofthe motors is different. In FIG. 1, the motor 2 has a stack length 56 of35 mm. In FIG. 2, the motor 2 has a stack length 58 of 40 mm. In FIG. 3,the motor 2 has a stack length 60 of 45 mm.

In each of the three hammer drills, the output spindle 12 of the motorprojects into the intermediate housing 54 through an aperture 120. Thefan 44 is mounted on the output spindle 12 inside of the intermediatehousing 54, the intermediate housing 54 surrounding, at least in part,surrounding the fan 44. The intermediate section 54 acts as a fanbaffle, guiding the air around the fan 44. The fan 44 used with allthree hammer drills with the three motors 2 of different stack lengthsis the same design. As such, the overall length of the intermediatehousing 54 in each of the drills remains the same.

In each of the three hammer drills, the shape of the motor housing 50 isidentical even though the sizes of the motors, due to varying stacklengths, vary. As the stack length of the three motors 2 increaseswithin the same motor housing 50, the position of the intermediatehousing 54 and fan 44 need to move forward relative to the motor housing50. As the position of the fan 44 locates further forward, thetransmission housing 52 then needs to be moved forward, relative to themotor 50 housing to enable the transmission mechanism to be positionedfurther forward. Therefore, different designs of intermediate housings54 are used in each of the drills order to accommodate the differentpositions of the transmission housing 52. This results in the shape inthe intermediate housings 54 changing with motors 2 having differentstack lengths.

In the drill in FIG. 1, the motor housing 50 connects directly to thetransmission housing 52. Therefore the first intermediate housing 54(shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C) for this drill provides a back wall 70 as partof the fan baffle, two side grills 72 with apertures 74, which fit intoan aperture formed between the transmission housing 52 and motor housing50 through which air expelled from the rotating fan 44 can exit thehammer drill and two side walls 76 which locate internally of theentrance of the motor housing 50 and which act as part of the fanbaffle.

In the drill in FIG. 2, which has a motor 2 with a greater stack lengththat that of FIG. 1, the motor housing 50 is connected via theintermediate housing 54 to the transmission housing 52 to enable thetransmission housing 52 to be moved forward relative to the motorhousing 50. Therefore, the second intermediate housing 54 (shown inFIGS. 5A to 5C) provides a back wall 80 as part of the fan baffle, twoside grills 82 with apertures 84, the width 86 of which is larger thanthe grill 72 of the first intermediate housing 54 to accommodate theforward position of the transmission housing 52, which fit into gapsformed between the transmission housing 52 and motor housing 50 andthrough which air expelled from the rotating fan 44 can exit the hammerdrill, two side walls 88 which are smaller than the walls 76 of thefirst intermediate housing 54 and which locate internally of theentrance of the motor housing 50 and which act as part of the fanbaffle, and two external walls 90, 92 located at the top and bottom andwhich fill the gap between the motor housing 50 and transmission housing52. The length of the external walls 90, 92 and the increase in thewidth of the grills 82 is the same as the increase in the stack lengthof the motor 2 compared with the stack length of the motor in FIG. 1,namely 5 mm.

In the drill in FIG. 3, which has a motor 2 with a greater stack lengththat those of FIG. 1 or 2, the motor housing 50 is connected via theintermediate housing 54 to the transmission housing 52 to enable thetransmission housing 52 to be moved even further forward relative to themotor housing 50. Therefore, the third intermediate housing 54 (shown inFIGS. 6A to 6C) provides a back wall 100 as part of the fan baffle, twoside grills 102 with apertures 104, the width 106 of which is largerthan the grills 72, 82 of the first and second intermediate housings 54to accommodate the forward position of the transmission housing 54 andwhich fit into gaps formed between the transmission housing 52 and motorhousing 50 and through which air expelled from the rotating fan 44 canexit the hammer drill, two side walls 107 which are smaller than thoseof the first and second intermediate housings 54 and which locateinternally of the entrance of the motor housing 50 and which act as partof the fan baffle and two external walls 108, 110 located at the top andbottom between the motor housing 50 and transmission housing 52 whichare longer in length than those of the second intermediate housing 54and which fill the larger gap between the motor housing 50 andtransmission housing 52. The length of the external walls 108, 110 andthe increase in the width of the grills 102 is the same as the increasein the stack length of the motor 2 compared with the stack length of themotor in FIG. 2, namely 5 mm.

The cost of intermediate housing 54 is substantially less than that ofthe motor housing 50. Therefore the use of differing intermediatehousing 54 to enable the same motor housing 50 to utilized on all of thehammer drills in a range decreases cost and increases simplicity. Italso enables a standardized external look to be generated across therange.

The intermediate housings 54 also provide support for the front of thestator 6 of the motor 2 via two rubber supports 122 which connectbetween the rear of the rear walls 70, 80, 100 of the intermediatehousings and the front end of the stators 6 of the motors 2.

During the normal operation of the three hammer drills, air is drawn inby the rotation of the fan 44 through vents 124 at the rear of the motorhousing 52 and across the motor to cool it. The air is then drawnthrough the aperture 120 into the intermediate housing 54 and throughthe fan 44. It is then expelled through the side vents 74, 84, 104formed in the side of the intermediate section 54 or an aperture 130formed between the front of the intermediate housing 54 and the rear ofthe transmission housing 52 on the lower side of the drill.

In the hammer drills of FIGS. 1 and 2, the shape of the transmissionhousing 52 is identical whilst the shape of the transmission housing 52of the hammer drill FIG. 3 is different to accommodate a largertransmission mechanism to drive a larger tool holder.

1. A power tool comprising: a motor housing; a transmission housingdisposed adjacent the motor housing with a gap therebetween; an electricmotor mounted within the motor housing, the motor having a stator and arotor driving a motor spindle; a transmission mechanism mounted withinthe transmission housing that uses the rotary output of the motor todrive a cutting tool; and an intermediate housing disposed between theelectric motor and the transmission mechanism, the intermediate housingcomprising: a back wall extending radially and having a through-holetherein through which the motor spindle extends, the back wall beinglocated adjacent an axial end of the stator of the electric motor; oneor more side walls extending axially from an outer circumference of theback wall, the one or more side walls being located radially internallyof the motor housing and being received through an entrance of the motorhousing to allow the back wall to be located adjacent the axial end ofthe stator of the electric motor, wherein an axial end of the one ormore side walls opposite the back wall engages the transmissionmechanism; and one or more external walls extendingsubstantially-radially outwardly from the axial end of the one or moreside walls to fill a gap formed between the transmission housing and themotor housing in the axial direction.
 2. The power tool of claim 1,further comprising a fan mounted on the motor spindle to generate anairflow, wherein the back wall of the intermediate housing is locatedbetween the stator and the fan forming a baffle for directing theairflow through the through-hole of the back wall of the intermediatehousing from the electric motor towards the fan.
 3. The power tool ofclaim 2, wherein the one or more side walls of the intermediate housingare formed around the fan.
 4. The power tool of claim 2, wherein theintermediate housing further comprises one or more side grills providedadjacent the one or more side walls, each of the one or more side grillsbeing provided with one or more apertures through which the airflow isexpelled out of the power tool.
 5. The power tool of claim 4, whereinthe one or more side grills fill the gap formed between the transmissionhousing and the motor housing in the axial direction on sides of thepower tool.
 6. The power tool of claim 4, wherein a width of the grillin the axial direction corresponds to a size of the gap between thetransmission housing and the motor housing in the axial direction. 7.The power tool of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the one or moreexternal walls in the axial direction corresponds to a size of the gapbetween the transmission housing and the motor housing in the axialdirection.
 8. The power tool of claim 1, wherein the back wall of theintermediate housing engages the axial end of the stator of the electricmotor to support the axial end of the stator.
 9. The power tool of claim8, further comprising one or more rubber supports provided between theback wall of the intermediate housing and the axial end of the stator ofthe electric motor to provide axial support for the stator relative tothe intermediate housing.
 10. A system comprising at least a first powertool and a second power tool, each of the first and second power toolscomprising: a motor housing; a transmission housing disposed adjacentthe motor housing with a gap therebetween; an electric motor mountedwithin the motor housing, the motor having a stator and a rotor drivinga motor spindle; a transmission mechanism mounted within thetransmission housing that uses the rotary output of the motor to drive acutting tool; and an intermediate housing disposed between the electricmotor and the transmission mechanism, the intermediate housingcomprising: a back wall extending radially and having a through-holetherein through which the motor spindle extends, the back wall beinglocated adjacent an axial end of the stator of the electric motor; oneor more side walls extending axially from an outer circumference of theback wall, the one or more side walls being located radially internallyof the motor housing and being received through an entrance of the motorhousing to allow the back wall to be located adjacent the axial end ofthe stator of the electric motor, wherein an axial end of the one ormore side walls opposite the back wall engages the transmissionmechanism; and one or more external walls extendingsubstantially-radially outwardly from the axial end of the one or moreside walls to fill a gap formed between the transmission housing and themotor housing in the axial direction, wherein the motor housing andtransmission housing of first power tool have the same length as themotor housing and transmission housing of the second power toolrespectively, but the electric motor of the first power tool has adifferent length than the electric motor of the second power tool suchresulting in different-size gaps between the motor housing andtransmission housing in the first power tool and the second power tool,and wherein a size of the one or more external walls of the intermediatehousing of the first power tool is different than a size of the one ormore external walls of the intermediate housing of the second powertool.